Flying disc golf games have been become popular. Such games are played on courses laid out in parks or other recreational areas. The courses consist of a number of "holes" such as nine or eighteen, with each hole having a "tee" from which a flying disc is originally thrown by each player and a post positioned a selected distance from the tee.
In playing the game, the flying disc is thrown from each of the tees in the direction of the respective post. If the disc misses the post by landing short, etc. on the first throw, as is generally the case, the disc is picked up and thrown again. This process is repeated until the disc strikes the post. The number of throws required for each player to strike each of the posts are then added to provide the total score for that player. The player with the lowest score is the winner.
Since obstacles such as trees, etc. are often located between the tees and their respective posts it is necessary to ensure by means other than visual observation that each impact between a disc and a post is accurately determined. Entrapment devices for use in the game and which are designed to capture a disc which impacts a post are known in the prior art. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,039,189 (of which I am a co-inventor). The device disclosed in this patent includes a post with an inverted basket mounted on the post, and a group of chains (8 or more) with the upper ends thereof mounted above the basket in a circle and the lower ends extending into the basket. The device described in the above patent, while functioning very satisfactorily with large, lightweight discs (e.g., 23 centimeters or more in diameter and about 100 grams in weight), does not always capture discs which are smaller and heavier. Smaller and heavier discs, for example, having a diameter of 21 centimeters (cm) and a weight up to 175 grams, when thrown travel faster and farther than the large, lightweight discs. For this reason the smaller, heavier discs have become very popular for use in the game. However, it has been observed that a disc of 21 cm diameter and weighing approximately 175 grams has enough kinetic energy to separate the chains, hit the post of the prior art device and bounce back several feet or separate the chains, miss the post and exit through the chains on the other side. In either event the entrapment device does not capture the disc and the unlucky player's score will be greater than it should be.
Another type of disc entrapment device which has been used in the past includes an inverted cone mounted on a post with the smaller end of the cone extending into an inverted basket also mounted on the post. It has been observed that this type of entrapment device has a tendency to deflect a disc away from the basket if the disc is traveling at a high velocity. The angle that the disc strikes the cone is also a factor in causing the disc to be deflected away from the basket in this type of prior art device.
The problems outlined above are solved to a large extent by the entrapment assembly of the present invention, which, like the prior art device of the above-referred-to patent, provides a first energy absorbing means in the form of a group of outside chains surrounding the post to reduce the velocity of the disc. An upwardly extending basket is mounted on the post so that the lower ends of the outside chains extend into the basket. In the present invention a deflection surface means, such as a second group of chains or a conical member, is positioned within the outside chains and extends upwardly and outwardly from a location adjacent the top of the basket for deflecting the disc and preferably absorbing additional kinetic energy therefrom so that small, high velocity (as well as large, lower velocity) discs will be caught in the basket.
The features of the present invention can best be understood by reference to the accompanying description taken in conjunction with the drawings where like reference numerals indicate like parts.